What do readers think of Devil Makes Three by Ben Fountain? Write your own review.

Matt Amaker has just about reached the break-even point with his dive business operating off the coast of Haiti. When Aristide falls to a military coup things take a drastic turn. Matt reimagines his business into a treasure hunting venture that explores old, underwater vessels for what ever they might contain but also attracts some unfortunate attention.

There is also a rookie CIA officer who is in way over her head. Readers are given this woman's real name (Audrey O'Donnell) as well as her operative name (Shelley Graber) for reasons I couldn't discern and it is nothing but confusing in an already challenging and complex story of good guys vs bad. This story illustrates the cost of military dictatorships, Bush imposed embargoes, people and entities masquerading as something they are not. It's easy for the characters to get pulled unwittingly into bad situations.

Ben Fountain knows his stuff when it comes to Haiti's problems and with excellent storytelling he melds the political with the characters to make the story both engaging and informative and shines a light on a somewhat unsettled part of the world.

This book is difficult to get into. Persevere! I recommend reading the first two chapters, reading a Wikipedia article on the 1991 Haitian coup d'état, and then skimming the first two chapters again. That will give you enough information to get into the story. After 50 pages, it flowed very well. I learned so much about Haiti from this book! The story was gripping, even if I never did figure out exactly who a lot of the Haitian military members were. I especially enjoyed the stories of family, friends, and lovers, and the details about Haitian life. It is hard to categorize this book…It is part historical fiction, part governmental/political fiction, and part world fiction (at least to this US reader). I think a list of characters with a short description of who each is would go a long way to eliminating confusion and allow the reader to access the story more easily.

This book is a challenging read. It's an interesting story of survival in Haiti during a different time in the country's history. I learned so much about Haiti and the struggles of Haitians who continue to deal with corruption and dangerous politicians. Unfortunately the book is longer than it needs to be. It's bogged down with unnecessary detail and technology. I had to do a lot of skimming which, as a reader, is frustrating. But it did inspire me to do more research on the coups in Haiti.

Ben Fountain's Devil Makes Three takes place in Haiti between the 1991 coup of Aristide and the 1992 US election of Bill Clinton. What Fountain does not know about Haiti, he has researched well, from the intricacies of scuba diving the reefs around the island, to contemporary theories of post-colonialism, to the many schemes, corruption and good will gone awry of political and power-hungry factions. All this information comes seamlessly through memorable characters: Matt and Alix, the diving duo, Shelly-Audrey, the CIA undercover political attaché, Misha, Alec's sister, home in Haiti, on hiatus from her Ph.D. studies at Brown, and the large number of well-developed FAd'H, ambassadorial staff, civilian Haitian characters. Fountain has unmatched, uncanny abilities of description. Several times, I reread sentences because he lit up the familiar in a totally new way. Devil Makes Three presents a strong case for the idiocy of violence, war, human to human cruelty; it has adventure, romance, voodoo, pathos, history. But sometimes I thought, Fountain gave us too much of a good thing.

Ben Fountain clearly is an expert in the culture, politics and history of Haiti. As I knew very little about the period in Haiti's history covered in the book, I learned a tremendous amount as he wove his extensive knowledge into the plot. The main characters were well developed, however there were so many other characters that it sometimes became confusing. In addition, there were many subplots that also could become confusing. All was wrapped up well in the last section of the book. A warning to those who are looking for a thriller, as some critics have categorized the book, I wouldn't consider it a thriller but rather literary fiction. I would recommend this book to readers of literary and historical fiction.

A novel of Haiti's President Aristides fall from power. An expat and a Haitian team up to fund a scuba business during a revolution. Along the way they discover that there is a better way to make money. During the Coup they decide to become treasure hunters by exploring ship wrecks. In doing this they come upon arms trafficking, also U.S involvement of a not so good kind, politics, adventure and more. This is usually not my usual genre but there was also some interesting Haiti history. I did like the book.

Devil Makes Three by Ben Fountain is an impressive and rich novel largely centering around Matt Amaker, an American scuba entrepreneur. Matt has the great misfortune of being right in the center of a Haitian coup that displaces Aristide as President. When his livelihood is stolen by the rebels and he's beaten senseless, Matt is forced to look elsewhere for sustenance. While treasure hunting with his best friend Alix could net him a fortune, it could plunge him into the depths of trouble with the new government, the rebels, and a greedy and vicious cartel also looking for treasure.

I loved Fountain's book Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, and Devil Makes Three is totally different. It was difficult to get into. There were many characters and too many details about government policies and organizations. However, learning about Haiti - the people, their culture and history was fascinating. I would not have picked this book on my own, it is a challenging read, but I'm glad I read it.